June 1, 2014

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2 CURRENT AFFAIRS

Meira Kumar on her last day in office till

the appointment of a Pro term Speaker
for the Lok Sabha on 31 May 2014.
Who was appointed as Lok Sabhas Pro
term Speaker? Kamal Nath, the senior
Congress leader (Kamal Nath is the
senior-most leader of the Lok Sabha
and has won from Chhindwara in
Madhya Pradesh for the ninth time)
1) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 31
May 2014 abolished all the Empowered
Groups of Ministers (EGoMs) and
Groups of Ministers (GoMs) and told
Ministries and departments to take
decisions on pending matters. How
many EGoMs and GoMs were working
on different issues that have now been
abolished? 30 (These include 9
EGoMs and 21 GoMs. These EGoMs
and GoMs were constituted during the
UPA regime of Manmohan Singh and
were formed to take decisions on issues
like corruption, inter-State water
disputes, administrative reforms and
gas and telecom pricing. EGoMs had
the power to take decisions on the line
of the Union Cabinet. The
recommendations of the GoMs were
placed before the Cabinet for a final
call)
2) The Chief Executive of Lok Sabha
Television (LSTV) Rajiv Mishra was
sacked from his post by Meira Kumar,
the Speaker of the 15th Lok Sabha, on
30 May 2014. This sacking was done by

3) India lost in its first tie of the 13th FIH

Mens Hockey World Cup that started
from 31 May 2014. India lost to Belgium
by 2-3 to start its campaign on a losing
note. This World Cup is being held at
The Hague, Netherlands (The 13th FIH
Mens Hockey World Cup is being held
from 31 May to 15 June 2014 at
Kyocera Hockey Stadium at the Hague.
12 teams participating in the Hockey
World Cup are Argentina, Australia,
Belgium, England, Germany, India,
Malaysia, Netherlands (the hosts), New
Zealand, South Africa, South Korea and
Spain)
4) Who emerged as the winner in the
Presidential Elections in the southern
African country Malawi that were held
on 20 May 2014? Peter
Mutharika (Peter Mutharika is the leader
of Malawis main opposition party
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The results were declared the Malawi
Electoral Commission (MEC) on 30 may
2014. Mutharika, the 74-year-old
brother of the late former President
Bingu wa Mutharika, was elected

president of the country after garnering

36.4% of the votes cast. Malawi
Congress Party (MCP) leader Lazarous
Chakwera came second grasping
27.8% of the votes and outgoing
president Joyce Banda trailed in third
with 20.2% of the votes, followed by
UDFS Atupele Muluzi with 13.7%)
5) The Samajwadi Party (SP)
government of Uttar Pradesh on 31 May
2014 removed states Chief Secretary
Javed Usmani amid huge uproar over a
string of heinous gang-rapes and crime

against women in the state. Who was

appointed as states new Chief
Secretary? Alok Ranjan (Alok Ranjan
was till now the agriculture production
commissioner (APC). Javed Usmani
was made the chief secretary in 2012
soon after the SP formed the
government in the state after a huge
victory in the assembly polls. The
Akhilesh Yadav-led state govt. was
especially under pressure after the
Badaun incident, where two sisters from
the dalit community were gang-raped
and then hung from a tree)

June 2, 2014

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3 CURRENT AFFAIRS

Telangana, who first took oath as

states Governor before administering
the oath of office of secrecy to Rao?
E.S.L. Narasimhan (Narasimhan will
serve as the Governor of both
Telangana and the residual Andhra
Pradesh, out of which Telangana has
been carved out. Telangana became
the 29thstate of the Union of India)
1) At the stroke of midnight, as the
date changed from 1 June to 2 June
2014, Indias newest state Telangana
was born amidst celebrations erupting
all across the state. Kalvakuntla
Chandrasekhara Rao, the supremo of
the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)
became the first Chief Minister of
Telangana as he took oath on 2 June
2014 at around 8:20 am at Hyderabad.
Who became the first Governor of

2) Indias newest state Telangana

comprises of how many districts?
Ten (These include Adilabad,
Hyderabad (capital), Karimnagar,
Khammam, Mahbubnagar, Medak,
Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Rangareddy
and Warangal)
3) Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won
the 2014 title of the Indian Premier

League (IPL) on 1 June 2014 with a

magnificent win over first-time finalists
Kings XI Punjab at Bangalores
Chinnaswamy Stadium. KKR won the
high-scoring match by 3 wickets and
chasing Kings XIs 199 for four, scored
200 for seven in 19.3 overs to win the
title. With this win KKR has won the
IPL title for how many times?
Two (KKR first won the title in 2012.
Rajasthan Royals was the first winner
of IPL and won the maiden title in
2008. The other title winners are
Deccan Chargers (2009), Chennai
Super Kings (2010 and 2011) and
Mumbai Indians (2013))

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4 CURRENT AFFAIRS

4) Who won the Orange Cap in IPL

2014 for scoring highest number of
runs? Robin Uthappa (KKRs
Uthappa scored 660 runs and became
the highest run scorer in any edition of
IPL. He was followed by D. Smith of
CSK (566 runs), G. Maxwell of Kings
XI (552 runs), David Warner of
Sunrisers Hyderabad (528 runs) and
Suresh Raina of CSK (523 runs))
5) Who won the Purple Cap in IPL
2014 for taking highest number of
wickets? Mohit Sharma of
CSK (Mohit Sharma took 23 wickets in
the tournament. He was followed by
Sunil Naraine of KKR (21 wickets),
Bhubaneshwar Kumar of Sunrisers
Hyderabad (20 wickets), Ravindra
Jadeja of CSK (19 wickets) and
Sandeep Sharma of Kings XI (18
wickets))

6) Indias first clinic for technology deaddiction was opened in which city
around a month ago?
Bangalore (The clinic has been
opened by Indias premier mental
health hospital, the National Institute of
Mental Health & Neuro Sciences
(NIMHANS). The clinic provides
treatment and consultancy for people
with obsession for social networking
and instant chatting sites, texting and
mobile games. Technology addiction
or internet addiction is recognised by
mental health professionals as akin to
addictive disorders concerning drugs
or alcohol. It is the propensity to
excessively engage in activities
involving the cellphone, internet and
social networking sites to the detriment
of ones health, social life or mental
state)
7) What is the name of the village in
Nagaland which was declared the
countrys first tobacco-free village on
31 May 2014 on the occasion of Notobacco Day? Gariphema (The
declaration was made by Nagalands
Principal Secretary R Benchilo Thong
at the Gariphema Village Council hall
near Kohima. A resolution was taken
at the village that whoever sells
alcohol and tobacco or whoever gets
drunk and disturbs peace would be
imposed a fine of Rs. 1000 while those
consuming alcohol, bidi, paan, betel
nut or smokeless tobacco on the street
and public places would be
fined Rs. 500)

8) What is the name of Indias first

luxury superfast train which completed
85 years of its operations on 1 June
2014? Deccan Queen (This famous
train runs between Mumbai and Pune
and was started as a weekend train on
1 June 1930 for the British during their
rule in India. It is one of the longest

running trains of Indian Railways and

has never ran on steam power. From
the very beginning, Deccan Queen
has been running on electricity. Now it
is a second home for thousands of
passengers who commute between
Pune-Mumbai on daily basis)

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June 3, 2014
1) The fifth Indo-French bilateral air
exercise named Garuda-V began on
2 June 2014. This exercise is aimed at
enhancing operational cooperation
and validating capabilities. The
exercise will involve the assets of
Indian Air Force (IAFs) main
operational formations, including the
Gandhinagar-based South Western Air
Command and the Allahabad-based
Central Air Command. Where is
Garuda-V being held? Jodhpur Air
Base, Rajasthan (Frontline fighter
aircraft of the IAF, including the SU 30,
Mig-27 (UPG), MIG- 21 Bison, and
force multipliers such as the AWACS
and Flight Refueller Aircraft IL 78 are
participating while the French have
fielded their frontline Rafale Fighter
aircraft along with the KC 135
Refueller. The exercise, whose
previous edition was held at Istres,
France, in 2010 will end on 13 June
2014)

2) Congress President on 2 June 2014

nominated whom as partys leader in
the Lok Sabha? Mallikarjun Kharge,
the Lok Sabha member of Congress
from Karnataka (Kharge is the former
Rail Minister and was nominated after
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi
was apparently reluctant to take on the
responsibility of leading his party in the
Lok Sabha)
3) King Juan Carlos, who on 2 June
2014 announced his decision to
abdicate his throne, is the head of
which countrys royal family?
Spain (Juan Carlos announced
abdication in favour of his son, the 46year-old Crown Prince Felipe.King
Carlos has been on the throne for 39
years and led Spains transition from
dictatorship to democracy. However, in
the recent years his popularity has
taken a big blow following numerous
royal scandals and controversies)

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6 CURRENT AFFAIRS

4) Which international airlines for the

first time introduced regular
commercial services of Airbus mega
passenger aircraft A-380 in India
recently? Singapore
Airlines (Singapore Airlines on 30 May
2014 became the first to operate the
worlds largest passenger carrier
aircraft to India. Regular operations of
A-380 in India became a reality after
the government in January 2014
allowed Airbus A380 to fly into the
country. The civil aviation ministry had
lifted the ban imposed in 2008 on the
ground that operation of A-380s could
work against the interest of Indian
passenger carriers. At present only
four airports Delhi, Mumbai,
Hyderabad and Bangalore have the
required infrastructure for handling A380 operations. The A-380 super
jumbo can accommodate up to 853
passengers in a single-class
configuration and a capacity of 525
passengers in a three-class
configuration)
5) What is the name of the US Army
soldier who was in the captivity of the
Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in
Afghanistan from June 2009 until his
release on May 31, 2014? Bowe
Robert Bergdahl(Bergdahl was the
only known US prisoner of war in
Afghanistan. His release was brokered
by the American, Qatar and
Afghanistan governments with the

Taliban, in exchange for five

detainees)
6) Which port overtook Kochi port to
become the largest marine exporting
port of India (in terms of value) during
2013-14? Vishakhapatnam, Andhra
Pradesh (Vishakhapatnam, also
known as Vizag port, clocked a
revenue of Rs. 6,825.64 crore, a
growth of 104% vis-a-vis last fiscal.
Kochi port registered 37% growth in
revenue at Rs. 4,491 crore and stood
at second position among all the major
ports of India. It is understood that
export of vannamei shrimps, a high
value aquaculture product mainly
farmed in Andhra Pradesh, have
contributed substantially to the higher
earnings of Vizag port)
7) Which port belonging to the private
sector continued to retain the foremost
position in marine exports among the
major ports in terms of quantity during
2013-14? Pipavav Port (During
2013-13 Pipavav Ports share of
exports was 25.27 per cent out of the
total 9,83,756 tonnes seafood
exported from the country. The port
handled 2,48,621 tonnes of marine
products during 2013-14 against
2,33,738 tonnes in the previous fiscal,
an increase of 6.37%. Kochi handled
1,60,798 tones whereas the figure of
Vizag was 1,02,146 tonnes)

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June 5, 2014

1) Which anniversary of Chinas

infamous Tiananmen Square
massacre was observed on 4 June
2014? 25th (The students protests of
Tiananmen Square took place at
Beijings famous Tiananmen Square
from 15 April 1989 and went till 4 June
1989 when these protests were
forcibly suppressed by hardline
leaders who ordered the military to
enforce martial law. The protests
started during April 1989 against the
killing of a former Communist Party
General Secretary and liberal reformer
Hu Yaobang. These protests were
mowed down by Chinese Army which
used tanks and heavy armoury to
target protestors. Tiananmen Square
protests of 1989 are considered one of
the strongest pro-democracy
movements in China which shook the
Communist regime to the core and
resulted in some degree of reforms)

2) Which country would become the

19th member of Eurozone and the last
Baltic nation to adopt the euro on 1
January 2015 as announced by the
European Commission on 4 June
2014? Lithuania (European
Commission announced that Lithuania
has fulfilled all conditions to join the
Eurozone and it recommended that
the country would become the
currency blocs 19th member on 1
January 2015. Lithuania would be the
last Baltic nation to adopt the euro,
after Estonia did so in 2011 and Latvia
followed suit at the beginning of 2014)
3) The Operation Blue Star, under
which Indian Army carried out a
military operation in order to establish
control over the Golden Temple
(Harmandir Sahib Complex) in
Amritsar, completed how many years
on 3 June 2014? 30
years (Operation Blue Star was carried
out from 3 June to 8 June 1984. The
main objective of the operation was to
flush-out Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale
and his armed followers from the
complex buildings. Bhindranwale had
earlier taken residence in Harmandir
Sahib and made it his headquarters in
April 1980. Unofficial sources claim
that over a hundred army soldiers died
in this operation while over 500
civilians and Sikh militants were killed.
Operation Blue Star was led by Lt.
Gen. Kuldip Singh Brar, who operated

under Lt. Gen. Sundarji. However, the

operation has been criticized on
numerous grounds including illplanning, ill-timing and arrogant
attitude of the strategists of this
operation. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale
also died in the operation)
4) The first sitting of the newly
constituted 16th Lok Sabha was
adjourned for the day on 4 June 2014
after paying homage to the departed
Union Minister Gopinath Munde. Who
was sworn in as the Protem Speaker
of the newly constituted Lok Sabha?
Kamal Nath(Kamal Nath, a nine-term
MP, was administered the oath at a
simple function in the Rashtrapati
Bhavan which was attended by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi, Vice

President Hamid Ansari, Parliamentary
Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu
and Minister of State (Parliamentary
Affairs) Santosh K Gangwar)
5) According to the HSBC Services
Business Activity Index released on 4
June 2014 Indias services sector
expanded for the first time during May
2014 after a gap of how many
months? 11 months (The headline
HSBC Services Business Activity
Index released on 4 June stood at
50.2 in May 2014, rising from Aprils
reading of 48.5 and pointing to the first
expansion of output in 11 months. This
clearly indicated that activity in the
services sector is improving gradually)

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June 6, 2014

1) 40th Summit of Group of Seven (G7)

group of countries concluded on 5
June 2014. This 2-day summit was
held at which city? Brussels,
Belgium (G7 was earlier known as G8
but after Russia being expelled from
the group, the group is again known as

G7. G7 is the group of seven major

world powers (largest economies of
the world) and includes Germany,
France, the United Kingdom, Italy,
Japan, the United States, and Canada.
Russia was expelled from its earlier
incarnation called G8 after its invasion
of Crimea during March 2014. G8s
summit for 2014 was proposed to be
held at Sochi (Russia) but it was
suspended after Russia was expelled
as a member of the group. The summit
was thus shifted to Brussels)

2) Indias new Prime Minister

Narendra Modi would undertake his
first official foreign visit to which
country, as disclosed on 5 June 2014?
Bhutan (Bhutan is Indias friendliest
neighbour and Modi would visit the
country after the ongoing session of
the Indian Parliament)
3) US President Barack Obama on 4
June 2015 suspended the oil
sanctions being imposed on Iran for
how many months? Six months (This
was done as Iran continued to comply
with the commitment on its
controversial nuclear weapons
programme. Obama determined that
there is no need to continue with oil
sanctions on Iran as it is fully cooperating with the US-led international
community to address their concerns
about its nuclear weapons
programme)

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9 CURRENT AFFAIRS

4) BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan will be

the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha. Her
name was proposed for the post on 5
June 2014 with senior leaders from all
parties, including Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, moving motions in her
favour. She is an eight-term Lok

Sabha member from which

constituency of Madhya Pradesh?
Indore(Sumitra Mahajan would thus
become the second woman Lok
Sabha speaker after Meira Kumar)
5) Who was nominated as Congress
partys Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha
on 5 June 2014? Jyotiraditya
Scindia (Jyotiraditya Scindia retained
his traditional Guna constituency seat
from Madhya Pradesh in the elections
for the 16th Lok Sabha. Deependra
Singh Hooda, the lone Congress
member from Haryana, and K.C.
Venugopal from Kerala were named
as partys other two whips)
6) Who was named as Congress
partys deputy leader in the Lok Sabha
on 5 June 2014? Amrinder
Singh (Amrinder Singh had defeated
senior BJP leader and the present
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley from
Amritsar constituency in the elections
for the 16th Lok Sabha. Earlier veteran
leader Mallikarjun Kharge was
nominated as partys leader in the Lok
Sabha by party President Sonia
Gandhi)

June 7-8, 2014

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10 CURRENT AFFAIRS

1) The Mumbai Metro finally started its

commercial operations from 8 June
2014 with opening of first line of the
Phase-1 of the project comprising of
11.4 km. Which stretch- of metro
services was opened on this day?
Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar
stretch (The commercial services on
Phase-1 of Mumbai Metro was
originally proposed to be started
during 2011 but it was delayed by
three years. There are a total of 3
phases with three lines in each phase)
2) Which company has been operating
the Phase-1 of Mumbai Metro which
opened for the general public from 8
June 2014? Mumbai Metro One Pvt.
Ltd MMOPL (MMOPL is a joint
venture company formed by Reliance
Infrastructure, Voelia Transport and
the Mumbai Metropolitan Region
Development Authority (MMRDA))
3) The Unit 1 of the Kudankulam
Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP)
crossed the much-awaited milestone

of 1,000 MW at 1.20 p.m. on 7 June

2014. What unique achievement was
made by KKNPP on this occasion? It
became Indias first unit to produce
1,000 MW electricity (The reactor has
been built with VVER technology and
has
been
supplied
by
Atomstroyexports,
Russia.
Indias
atomic power plant operator Nuclear
Power Corporation of India Ltd
(NPCIL) is setting up two Russian
made 1,000 MW atomic power plants
at KKNPP at an outlay of over
Rs.17,000 crore)
4) An expert committee set up to
review the functioning of the direct
benefit transfer for LPG scheme has
recently recommended immediate relaunch scheme in the districts where it
has already been implemented. Who
headed this committee? Prof. S G
Dhande, former Director of IIT Kanpur
(The committee in its report has said
that the scheme can be re-launched in
the same districts provided they meet
the prescribed threshold of UID
number issued, LPG connections and
bank account seeding. The scheme
was rolled from 1 June 2013 in 291
districts in phases. Till 7 March 2014,
about Rs. 5,400 crore was transferred
to more than 2.8 crore LPG
consumers across the country. The
Aadhaar-linked scheme was put on
hold
from
7
March
following
complaints from consumers that either

they didnt have the Aadhaar number

or have problems in seeding their
accounts with the sponsor banks)
5) Who won womens singles title of
French
Open
2014?
Maria

Sharapova of Russia (She defeated

Romanias Simona Halep by 6-4, 6-7,
6-4 at Roland Garros, Paris on 7 June
2014. This was Sharapovas second
French Open singles title and fifth
grand
slam
singles
title)

June 9, 2014

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11 CURRENT AFFAIRS

Pradesh. 19 ministers were also

inducted into Naidus government)

1) Who took over as the first Chief

Minister of the residuary state of
Andhra Pradesh on 8 June 2014?
Nara Chandrababu Naidu (Naidu, the
supremo of Telugu Desham Party
(TDP) was administered the oath of
office and secrecy by Governor E.S.L.
Narasimhan. He has served for close
to nine years from 1995 to 2004 as
Chief Minister of united Andhra

2) The oath ceremony of new

government of the residuary state of
Andhra Pradesh was held at which
place on 8 June 2014? at the
grounds
of
Acharya
Nagarjuna
University at Numbur, which falls
between Vijayawada and Guntur (The
residuary Andhra Pradesh does not
have a capital of its own at present
and will share Hyderabad as jointcapital with Telangana for 10 years. By
then it will have to develop a new
capital of its own)
3) Which international airport of
Pakistan became target of a massive
terrorist attack on 8 June 2014 in
which at least 23 people were killed?
Karachis
Jinnah
International
Airport (The old terminal building of the
airport was targeted by terrorists who

posed as Airport Security Force (ASF)

personnel. All 10 terrorists were killed
in a combined retaliatory operation of
army
units,
ASF
commandos,
paramilitary rangers and police. The
attack was reminiscent of the deadly
attack carried out by some 15 militants
of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in
May, 2011 on the Mehran naval
airbase here in which the attackers
killed some 18 personnel and
damaged aircrafts before being killed
in a counter attack)

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12 CURRENT AFFAIRS

4) Which former Indian cricketer joined

the Supreme Court-appointed Mudgal
committee as a member on 8 June
2014? Sourav Ganguly (Ganguly
joined the Mudgal committee, which is
probing the IPL betting and spot-fixing
scandal, as an expert on cricketing
affairs. The panel is headed by Retd.
Justice Mukul Mudgal and includes
advocates L. Nageswara Rao, Niloy
Dutta and senior IPS officer B.B.
Mishra. The Supreme Court had
earlier directed the probe committee to
select a cricketer of impeccable
integrity who would help the
committee on the cricketing matters
related to IPL betting and spot-fixing)
5) In a dramatic race in the Canadian
Formula One Grand Prix on 8 June

2014, team Mercedes was beaten for

the first time in 2014. Who was the
unexpected winner of this race?
Daniel Ricciardo for Red Bull (This
was the first GP win for Daniel
Ricciardo of Australia and Mercedes
was beaten for the first time in this
season. However, the second spot
was taken by Mercedes Driver Nico
Rosberg (Germany) and Ricciardos
teammate Sebastian Vettel (Germany)
claimed the third spot. A big event of
the race was Mercedes Lewis
Hamilton being forced to retire from
the race due to brake failure. Force
Indias Hulkenberg (Germany) claimed
fifth spot. With this result Mercedes
Nico Rosberg extended his lead over
Hamilton for the ongoing F1 season)
6) Spains Rafael Nadal won the mens
singles title of 2014 French Open on 8
June 2014 by defeating Serbias
Novak Djokovic by 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.
This was Nadals singles title
win at the French Open 9th (In the
modern era, no man has had a tighter
grip on a Grand Slam event than
Rafael Nadal, who won the French
Open title for record ninth time at the
age of just 28 years. Nadal has now
won 14 Grand Slam singles titles; just
three behind the career leader, his
former archrival Roger Federer)

June 10-11, 2014

TRS chief and Chief Minister K.
Chandrasekhar Rao)

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13 CURRENT AFFAIRS

1) Indias market capitalization recently

crossed which major milestone after
around 4 years, mainly on the back of
a strong government at the Centre?
1.5 trillion dollar (The recent spurt in
the market has also propelled India to
be the 10th biggest in terms of market
cap, and the second biggest in the
BRIC group of countries, behind China
which is at $3.23 trillion. In rupee
terms, Indias market cap is at an alltime high of Rs 89.8 lakh crore. At the
current level, Indias market cap-toGDP ratio is about 0.79. However, this
is much lower than the levels seen
during the last bull market of 2007-08,
when the ratio was nearly 2)
2) Who took charge as the first
Speaker of the Telangana Assembly
on
10
June
2014?
S.
Madhusudanachari (He was elected to
the Assembly from Bhupalpalli in
Warangal district. He had been a
member of the Telangana Rashtra
Samithi (TRS) since its foundation in
2001 and is a trusted lieutenant of

3) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8

June 2014 unveiled a new book
titled Getting India Back on Track: An
Action Agenda For Reform. The book
basically carries a series of papers on
different areas for presentation to the
new government arguing out the case
for the reforms that would be
necessary to get India back on track.
Who are the authors of this book?
Bibek Debroy, Ashley J. Tellis and
Reece Trevor (The book has been
published by Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace. The foreword of
the book has been written by Ratan N
Tata and it contains insightful essays
by eminent academicians and public
policy experts)
4) Who was named as the Leader of
the House in the Rajya Sabha on 9
June 2014? Arun Jaitley (Rajya
Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari made
the announcement on the first days
sitting of the Upper House after the
Lok Sabha elections. Jaitley, a senior
BJP Rajya Sabha member from
Gujarat and Union Finance Minister
was earlier the Leader of Opposition in
the Rajya Sabha during UPA
Government)

5) Who was named the Leader of the

Opposition in the Rajya Sabha on 9
June
2014?
Ghulam
Nabi
Azad (Ghulam Nabi Azad is a veteran
Congress leader and was Union
Health Minister during the UPA govt.
He lost the Lok Sabha election from
Udhampur constituency in Jammu and
Kashmir)

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14 CURRENT AFFAIRS

6) At least 24 engineering students

from
the
Hyderabad-based
engineering college VNR Vignana
Jyothi Institute of Engineering &
Technology were washed away on 8
June 2014 in River Beas near Thalot
(Himachal Pradesh) on ManaliKiratpur Highway after water from the
reservoir of a dam was released
suddenly. Which dam is this which is
part of a hydropower project? Larji
Dam, which has a reservoir under the
126 MW Larji Hydropower Project
(The incident took place when the
students from the Hyderabad-based
college were trying to click photos on
the bank of the river. The students
drowned when water from Larji dam
was suddenly released without any
warning)
7) Armed militants made yet another
attack
near
Karachis
Jinnah
International Airport on 10 June 2014
just two days after a huge attack on 8
June. The militants attacked a training
camp of the Airport Security Force
(ASF) but failed to penetrate the
security cordon and managed to flee
into nearby residential areas. Which

militant group had claimed the

responsibility for the first attack and is
believed to be involved in this attack
too? Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan
TTP (Eleven airport security guards,
along with a paramilitary ranger and a
policeman, 14 civilian workers and 10
militants were killed in the previous
attack. TTP took the responsibility for
second attack too later in the day on
10 June)
8) Which mobile phone operator
signed a two-year agreement with
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) to
deploy its enterprise mobility platform
to companys LPG customers? Idea
Cellular (Under this agreement Ideas
platform would be used to service
IOCs more than 82 million LPG
consumers. The service allows
consumers to book LPG over phone or
text messages, much in contrast with
the traditionally mode of bookings
done through distributors. IOC, which
provides LPG under the Indane
brand, will extend its Smart Gas
Solution service to provide end-to-end
automation on refill delivery process of
IOC)
9) According to a latest report by The
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) how
many millionaire households were
there in India during 2013? Around
1.75 lakh (The BCG report titled 14th
Annual Study of the Global WealthManagement Industry was released
on 10 June 2014, according to which

Indias wealth in 2013 grew 24.6% to

$2.2 trillion)
10) Defence Minister Arun Jaitley
during June 2014 commissioned two
coastguard ships ICGS Achook and
ICGS Agrim into the service of Indian
Coastguard. These two are the fifth
and sixth ships in a series of twenty
fast patrol vessels and are new

generation
fast
patrol
vessels
equipped
with
sophisticated
communication equipment to be based
in Mumbai. The other commissioned
ships in these series are in Tuticorin,
Porbandar, Cochin and Mangalore.
They have been built at Cochin
shipyard (Cochin shipyard is also
building Indias first indigenous aircraft
carrier)

June 12, 2014

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15 CURRENT AFFAIRS

played at 12 different venues in Brazil.

Brazil is hosting the World Cup for the
second time. It hosted it for the first
time in 1950)

1) FIFA Football World Cup 2014

starts from 12 June 2014 as hosts
Brazil take on Croatia in the opening
match at the new Corinthians Arena in
Sao Paulo. This would be which
edition of FIFA Mens Football World
Cup? 20th (The 20thedition of FIFA
World Cup would be played from 12
June to 13 July 2014. 32 teams from 5
confederations are participating in this
World Cup. Total 64 matches would be

2) What is the name assigned to a

tropical cyclone which initiated in the
east-central Arabian Sea on the
afternoon of 11 June 2014?
Nanauk (The name Nanauk was
assigned by Myanmar as per the
regional cyclone naming protocol.
India
Met
Department
(IMD)
announced initiation of this tropical
cyclone and expected it to intensify
another round into a severe cyclonic
storm. The cyclone will later weaken
as it nears landfall over Oman coast)

3) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.

Chandrababu Naidu on 11 June 2014
allotted portfolios to his Cabinet
colleagues. He also appointed two
Deputy Chief Ministers for the state.
Who are the two ministers to secure
this post? K.E. Krishna Murthy and
N.
Chinarajappa(Senior
leader
Yanamala Ramakrishnudu was named
Finance
minister
while
N.
Chinnarajappa got Home Ministry
along with the post of Deputy CM)
4) Which city would host the World
Chess
Championship
rematch
between
Indian
chess
veteran
Viswanathan Anand and title-holder
Magnus Carlsen (Norway) during
November 2014? Sochi, Russia(This
much-anticipated rematch would be
held staged from 7 November to 28
November 2014 at the Olympic Village
in Sochi. The schedule for the match

was announced on 11 June 2014 by

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.
Carlsen became the world champion
during November 2013 by defeating
Anand in Chennai)
5) The World Bank lowered its growth
forecast for developing countries
during 2014 in its Global Economic
Prospects (GEP) report which was
released on 11 June 2014. The growth
forecast was lowered from the January
estimate of 5.3% to 4.8% (However,
the estimates for 2015 and 2016
displayed signs of strengthening with
growth of 5.4 and 5.5%, respectively.
In the report the global economy is
expected to pick up speed as the year
progresses and is projected to expand
by 2.8% during 2014 and later
strengthening to 3.4 and 3.5% in 2015
and 2016, respectively)

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16 CURRENT AFFAIRS

June 13, 2014

1) AirAsia India, the Indian arm of the
Malaysian no-frills airline headed by
Tony Fernandes, on 12 June 2014
became the fifth budget carrier in India
as its maiden flight took off on the day.
This first flight of AirAsia was between
which two destinations? From
Bangalore to Goa (AirAsia became the
fifth budget (no-frills) airline in India
after IndiGo, JetLite, SpiceJet and
GoAir. AirAsia India is a three-way
venture between the Malaysia-based

low-cost airline, Indias Tata Group

and
investment
firm
Telestra
Tradeplace)

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17 CURRENT AFFAIRS

2) Which major public-sector steel

plant of the country witnessed an
accident due to a gas leakage on 12
June 2014 resulting in death of 6
persons? Bhilai Steel Plant at Durg
in Chattisgarh (Bhilai Steel Plant is
owned by the Steel Authority of India
Limited (SAIL). The accident took
place after a gas leakage from a blast
furnace due to breakdown in a water
pump. Six persons, including two
Deputy General Managers, were killed
and over 30 people fell ill in this
accident)
3) Who was appointed as the new
CEO of Infosys Limited, Indias
second-largest IT services exporter,
on
12
June
2014?
Vishal
Sikka(Vishal Sikka thus becomes the
first external CEO of Infosys which is
presently witnessing a large staff
exodus and low sales of high-margin
services like cloud computing. Vishal
Sikka is a former member of executive
board at German software company
SAP AG and would replace S.D.
Shibulal on 1 August 2014)
4) Who was appointed as the new
Attorney General of India on 12 June
2014? Mukul Rohatgi (Mukul Rohatgi
is a senior advocate of the Supreme

Court and he replaced G.E. Vahanvati

as the 14th AG of the country. He will
have a tenure of 3-year. The
government has already appointed
Ranjit Kumar as the Solicitor General.
Six Additional Solicitors General have
also been appointed)
5) Hosts Brazil came from behind to
beat a stubborn Croatia 3-1 in the first
match of 2014 FIFA World Cup on 12
June 2014. Who scored two goals for
Brazil to start their World Cup
campaign in style? Neymar (Neymar
scored
two
goals
in
29th and
71st minute respectively after Croatia
took the surprise lead in 11th minute
through a self-goal by Brazils Marcelo
. Third goal for Brazil was scored by
Oscar during last seconds of the
match)
6) Who topped Union Public Service
Commission (UPSCs) IAS exams for
2013, the results for which were
declared on 12 June 2014? Gaurav
Agarwal (This was the second attempt
of the 29-year-old Jaipur boy, who is
currently under training at National
Police Academy after he was selected
for the IPS with 244th rank in the UPSC
exams in 2012. Agrawal holds a
Bachelor of Technology (computer
science) degree from Indian Institute
of Technology (IIT), Kanpur and MBA
(Finance) from Indian Institute of
Management
(IIM)
Lucknow)

June 14-15, 2014

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18 CURRENT AFFAIRS

1) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 14

June 2014 dedicated Indias largest
warship the 44,500-tonne INS
Vikramaditya to the nation. This huge
ship had been purchased at a cost of
around Rs. 15,000 crore from Russia
where it was known as Admiral
Gorshkov. But what was the original
name of this ship which started as a
Kiev class aircraft carrying cruiser in
the erstwhile Soviet Navy? Baku(It
was commissioned as Baku in the
Navy of the former USSR on 20
December 1987. However, on 7
November 1990 it was renamed after
Admiral
Sergey
Georgiyevich
Gorshkov
and
was
finally
decommissioned in 1996)
2) India on 13 June 2014 became a
permanent member of the Washington
Accord (WA) as it joined a select
group of 17 countries who are
permanent signatories of the WA.
Washington Accord is associated with
which field? Engineering studies and

mobility of engineers (Washington

Accord is an international agreement
amongst prominent nations of the
world, with the charter of promoting
mobility and quality assurance of
engineers
across
international
boundaries. The charter requires that
nations set up suitable accreditation
standards, which would ensure a
minimum quality of attainment for their
engineering graduates)
3) The Maharashtra Government on
13 June 2014 decided to split Indias
most populous district Thane by
carving out a new district out of district.
Which will be this new district?
Palghar (Palghar
will
be
the
headquarters of the new district, which
will have eight taluks (sub-districts).
The residual Thane district will have
seven taluks including Thane city.
Thane district, with a large tribal
population, huge tracts of forest and
inaccessible areas has always been
challenge for the administrators. The
tribal belt will now come under
Palghar)
4) The Narmada Control Authority
(NCA) on 12 June 2014 approved the
proposal to raise Narmada Dams
height from 121.9 metres to 138.7
metres. The demand for raising the
height of the dam was a longstanding
demand of the Gujarat government.

This would make Narmada Dam

worlds second largest concrete gravity
dam (by volume). Which is the largest
one? Grand Coulee Dam in the
United States (A higher dam will
optimize hydro-power generation and
water supply capacity of this project,
and is expected to benefit not just
Gujarat
but
also
neighbouring
Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya
Pradesh. But decision to raise dams
height drew protests from activist
Medha Patkar who drew attention to
the
resultant
displacement
of
thousands of people)
5) The Maharashtra Government on
13 June 2014 approved 20%
additional reservations in government
jobs and education for which
community with which the communitys
quota limit would be raised upto 72%?
Maratha Community (The Marathas
are a dominant caste in the state of
Maharashtra, comprising roughly 30%
of the population. The community
wields massive political clout)

6) Defending champion Spain was

delivered a humiliating 5-1 defeat by
the Netherlands in a league match at
the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2014 on
13 June 2014. This was only the
second time the Spanish team had
conceded five goals in a World Cup
game. When they were last defeated
by such a margin in World Cup? in
1950 (When hosts Brazil defeated
Spain by 6-1 on their home turf. Spain
is also the Euro 2012 champions)
7) India ended its campaign at the FIH
Hockey World Cup on 14 June 2014
by playing their last classification
match. India finished at which place in
this
World
Cup?
Ninth (India
defeated South Korea by 3-0 in the
ninth-10th place play-off match at the
Kyocera Stadium at The Hague in
Netherlands. India ended the World
Cup one notch below their eighthplace finish at New Delhi edition in
2010)

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19 CURRENT AFFAIRS

June 16, 2014

1) Defending champions Australia won
the FIH mens Hockey World Cup by
humiliating hosts the Netherlands by
6-1 on 15 June 2014. With this win
Australia has now won how many
hockey
World
Cup
titles?

Three(Australias other title wins were

in 1986 and 2010. Argentina defeated
England by 2-0 to win third place while
India got ninth place in the

tournament. This was 13th edition of

mens Hockey World Cup and was
held at the Hague in the Netherlands
from 31 May to 15 June 2014)

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20 CURRENT AFFAIRS

2) Hosts the Netherlands defeated

which team in the finals to win FIH
womens Hockey World Cup on 14
June 2014? Australia (This was
record seventh title win for the
Netherlands in 13 World Cups. This
was also the 13th edition of womens
Hockey World Cup and was held at
the Hague in the Netherlands
simultaneously with mens World Cup.
Argentina defeated the USA by 2-1 to
win third place. This was Argentinas
fourth successive medal in the
World Cup. They were champions in
2002 and 2010, and bagged a
bronze in 2006)
3) Prime Minister Narendra Modi
visited which country on his first official
visit to a foreign country since
assuming
charge?
Bhutan(He
reached Bhutan on 15 June 2014 on
his 2-day official visit. Modi said
Bhutan was a natural choice as his
first foreign destination because of the
unique and special relationship
between India and Bhutan)
4) Renowned journalist Shekhar Gupta
was heading which newspaper as its
Editor-in-Chief, from which he officially
resigned on 15 June 2014? Indian
Express (From 16 June 2014 Indian
Express has a new Editor-in-Chief

Raj Kamal Jha. Raj Kamal Jha was

the Editor of the newspaper till now
while Managing Editor Unni Rajen
Shanker was appointed the new
Editor. Shekhar Gupta is also famous
for his hosting of Walk the Talk on
NDTV)
5) Who was elected as the new Prime
Minister of Finland on 14 June 2014 to
replace outgoing Prime Minister Jyrki
Katainen? Alexander Stubb (Stubb
was the Foreign Trade Minister in the
government till now. Stubb represents
the liberal wing of National Coalition
Party, the main government party in
the five-party coalition and was elected
in the party congress where he
defeated rival Social Affairs Minister
Paula Risikko with 500 votes against
her 349. Katainen, who has led the
party since 2004, announced his
resignation in April 2014)
6) What is the name of the Worlds first
supersonic car which can run at 1,609
kmph (1,000 mph), which was
unveiled on 13 June 2014 in Bristol
(UK)?
Bloodhound
SSC (Bloodhound SSC is aimed to set
the fastest land speed record in history
in the South African desert in 2015
and 2016. It has been handcrafted
using 5 different types of carbon fibers
and two different resins. Andy Green,
a British Royal Air Force fighter pilot
and World Land Speed Record holder,
is the official driver of this supersonic
car)

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21 CURRENT AFFAIRS

June 17, 2014

1) What is the name given to a major

operation started by the Pakistani
military from 15 June 2014 to flush
insurgents out of the volatile region of
North
Waziristan
bordering
Afghanistan? Zarb-e-Azb, which
translates to Strike of the Prophets
Sword (Pakistan sent troops, artillery
and helicopter gunships to North
Waziristan on 15 June in a longexpected military operation seen as a
response to a deadly insurgent attack
on its biggest airport (Karachi) a week
ago. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who
preferred peace talks, has been under
pressure from hawks in the army as
well as the United States to launch a
major operation against militants in
North Waziristan, part of the largely
lawless areas bordering Afghanistan.
The Pakistan Army on 16 June 2014
said that at least 27 terrorists were
killed in the ongoing operation)
2) The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)
for the month of May 2014 touched a
5-month high as higher food prices
and fuel costs fuelled price rise. What

was the WPI for May 2014 which was

released on 16 June 2014?
6.01% (The WPI for April 2014 was
5.20%. As per the data released by
the government, core inflation was at
3.8% as against 3.4% last month.
Primary article inflation stood at 8.58%
as against 7.06% last month. Food
article inflation was at 9.50% as
against 8.64% last month while nonfood article index was up at 1.5%)
3) Who was chosen as the next United
Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights by the U.N. General
Assembly on 16 June 2014? Prince
Zeid al Hussein of Jordan (Prince Zeid
al Hussein is Jordans Ambassador to
the U.N. He is a longtime diplomat and
former U.N. peacekeeper and will take
over from Navi Pillay as U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights on 1
September 2014. He will be the first
Muslim and Arab to hold the post)
4) The
goal-line
technology,
introduced for the first time in the FIFA
World Cup, awarded the first
international goal in its history on 15
June 2014. This goal was awarded to
which country? France(France made
World Cup history by becoming the
first team to benefit from FIFAs longoverdue embrace of video replays in
awarding goals called goal-line
technology. This decision was done in

Frances
league match
against
Honduras
which
France
won
convincingly by 3-0)
5) Which team won the US prestigious
NBA (National Basketball Association)
Championship for 2014 on 15 June
2014? San Antonio Spurs (San
Antonio Spurs defeated the Miami
Heat by 104-87 to win the series in five
games. This was 5th NBA title for Spurs
having won the title in 1999, 2003,
2005 and 2007. Spurs also ended
Miami Heats winning spree having
won the title consecutively in 2012 and
2013. NBA is widely considered to be

the premier mens professional

basketball league in the world)
6) Who won the US Open Golf title for
2014 on 15 June 2014? Martin
Kaymer of Germany (With this title win
Kaymer became the first continental
European to ever win the US Open.
Hes also only the third Open
champion to have led from beginning
to end of the tournament, joining Tiger
Woods and Rory McIlroy. This was
114thedition of US Open Golf, which is
one of the most prestigious titles in
international
golf
circuit)

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22 CURRENT AFFAIRS

June 18, 2014

non-subsidised kerosene in the city
Delhi: A Kerosene-Free City Scheme,
2012(The scheme was launched in
2012 in collaboration with three oil
marketing companies and the Union
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
for which Delhi Government had
incurred an expenditure of Rs. 62
crores. With delhi being kerosene-free,
India is expected to save upto Rs. 200
crore annually)
1) The Delhi Government on 17 June
2014 announced that the national
capital has become the first kerosenefree city in the country. Which scheme
was implemented in the city which
enabled it to do away with the sale of

2) Which bank is organising The

Banking and Economics Conclave
2014 which was inaugurated by
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor
Raghuram Rajan in Mumbai on 17

June 2014? State Bank of India

SBI (This conclave is a national level
banking conclave that has been
organized for the first time. The
conclave is on the lines of Bancon, an
event organised by Indian Banks
Association (IBA) each year. It is also
the first time that a commercial bank
has organised an event of this
magnitude)

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23 CURRENT AFFAIRS

3) The Tax Administration Reform

Commission (TARC) headed by
Parthasarathi Shome in its first report
endorsed the recommendations given
by the 1992 committee on tax reforms
for abolishing the post of Revenue
Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.
Who had headed that 1992 committee
on tax reforms which had advocated
path-breaking tax reforms for the
country Raja J Chelliah (Raja J
Chelliah was instrumental in bringing
about the early reforms to the direct
taxation structure. He served as
chairman of Tax Reforms Committee
of Union govt. between 1991 and 1993
and he was often called The Father of
Tax Reforms)
4) Who was re-elected as Colombias
President in the tightest presidential
contest in years in the country? Juan
Manuel Santos(Santos defeated rightwing challenger Oscar Ivan Zuluaga

who was backed by former two-term

President Alvaro Uribe. His win is
being seen as an endorsement of his
18-month-old peace talks to end the
Western
Hemispheres
longestrunning conflict)
5) Who scored the first hat-trick of the
2014 FIFA World Cup Thomas
Mueller of Germany (Mueller scored
the first hat-trick of the World Cup on
16 June 2014 against Portugal in a
Group-G league match at Salvador.
Germany outclassed Portugal 4-0 in
this match to start its World Cup
campaign in style)
6) With over 3 lakh employees Indian
IT company TCS has become the
worlds third largest employer in the
technology sector. Which is the
leading employer in this segment?
IBM (According to the latest data
released by analysis firms, IBM had
4,31,212 employees during the end of
last fiscal year (2013) and was
followed by Hewlett-Packard (HP) with
3,17,500 employees. TCS is now
placed third with employee strength of
3,00,464. Given the pace at which
TCS is growing, it could become the
second largest employer this year,
crossing HP and would be fast closingin
on
IBM)

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24 CURRENT AFFAIRS

June 19, 2014

1) Who was recently appointed the

arbitrator from the Union Finance
Ministry in the Rs.20,000-crore tax
dispute case with U.K. telecom major
Vodafone? Justice (Retd.) R. C.
Lahoti, Former Chief Justice of India
(The governments decision was in
response to an arbitration notice
served by Vodafone International
Holdings B.V. in April 2014 under the
Bilateral Investment Protection and
Promotion Agreement between India
and the Netherlands for resolving the
dispute. The Union Cabinet had
approved
the
conciliation
with
Vodafone in June last year in a bid to
resolve the capital gains tax dispute
related to its 2007 acquisition of
Hutchison Whampoas stake in
Hutchison Essar)
2) The Securities and Exchange Board
of India (SEBI) on 17 June 2014 came
out with a consultation paper on an

alternative funding source to help

start-ups struggling to raise funds.
Under this, funding (in small amounts)
is sought from multiple investors
through a web-based platform or a
social networking site for a specific
project, business venture or social
cause. What is the name of this
funding source which is quite popular
in developed countries? Crowdfunding (According
to
SEBIs
consultation paper SEBI wants the
issue fund-raising capped at Rs. 10
crore a year for each start-up. Only
national stock exchanges and SEBIregistered depositories are eligible to
set up a crowd-funding platform)
3) Mehrangir, the south Mumbai
bungalow of late Dr. Homi Bhabha, the
father of Indias atomic energy
programme was sold on 18 June 2014
for Rs. 372 crore. Which organisation
was the beneficiary of this auction and
which also conducted the auction?
National Centre for Performing Arts
NCPA (NCPA a charitable trust was
the beneficiary of as per the will of
Homi Bhabhas brother Jamshed
Bhabha. The property is located in
south Mumbais Malabar Hill, one of
the most premium and expensive
localities in Mumbai)
4) What is the name of Iraqs largest
oil refinery which was taken into

control by Islamic militants on 18 June

2014? Beiji (The Beiji refinery
accounts for a little more than a
quarter of the countrys entire refining
capacity all of which goes towards
domestic consumption for things like
gasoline, cooking oil and fuel for
power stations. At the height of the
insurgency from 2004 to late 2007, the
Beiji refinery was under the control of
Sunni militants who used to siphon off
crude and petroleum products to
finance their operations. If the seize at
Beiji continues for a long time, long
lines at the gas pump and electricity
shortages are expected in Iraq)
5) The third and the final link of the
16.4-km elevated Eastern Freeway
was inaugurated by Maharashtra Chief
Minister Prithviraj Chavan at Mumbai
on 16 June 2014. With this all the
sections of Mumbais Eastern Freeway
have now been opened for traffic,
some seven years after its foundation
was laid. Which is the third link of this

freeway? The Panjarpol-Ghatkopar

link which is 2.8 km long (The Eastern
Freeway was commissioned by the
Mumbai
Metropolitan
Region
Development Authority (MMRDA) in a
staggered manner, with the first
section being open for motorists in
June 2013)
6) Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of
India on 18 June 2014 confirmed the
kidnapping of 40 Indian workers in Iraq
who worked there. These workers
were based near which Iraqi town as
stated by the MEA? Mosul (These 40
Indian workers were working for a
Turkish construction company near the
Iraqi town of Mosul and no contact is
being established with them. There are
about 10,000 Indians working and
living in Iraq. Only about 100 are in
violent, insecure areas. That includes
the construction workers near Mosul
as well as 46 Indian nurses working in
a hospital in the Iraqi town of Tikrit)

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25 CURRENT AFFAIRS

June 20, 2014

1) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on
17 June 2014 asked banks to make
sector-wise
disclosure
of
their
advances from 2014-15 onwards with
a view to encourage them to actively
manage
exposure
to
various
segments. This direction was based
on
which
committees
recommendation on this subject? Dr.

Nachiket
Mor
Committee (The
Committee
on
Comprehensive
Financial
Services
for
Small
Businesses
and
Low
Income
Households under chairmanship of Dr.
Nachiket Mor had recommended that
banks
actively
manage
their
exposures to various sectors, including
priority sectors)

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26 CURRENT AFFAIRS

2) Who was chosen for World Food

Prize of the United Nations for 2014 as
announced recently? Dr. Sanjay
Rajaram, veteran plant scientist of
Indian origin (India-born Sanjay
Rajaram, a citizen of Mexico has been
the head of the wheat-breeding
programme at the International Centre
for Wheat and Maize (CIMMYT) in
Mexico for several decades. He has
been chosen for the award for his
scientific research that led to a
prodigious increase in world wheat
production. Regarded as the most
prestigious award in the area of food
and agriculture, the Prize, carrying a
cash prize of $ 250,000, would be
presented during the U.N. World Food
Day on 16 October 2014. Indias Dr.
M.S. Swaminathan was the first
recipient of the Prize in 1987)
3) Who was selected for the post of
the next Secretary General of Interpol,
the international policing agency, on
18 June 2014? Juergen Stock of
Germany (Stocks candidacy will be
submitted to Interpols supreme
governing body, the general assembly,
for endorsement when it meets in

Monaco in November and if endorsed,

he will assume office after Ronald K
Noble steps down in 2015 following
three successive tenures. CBI Director
Ranjit Sinha was also in the race for
this post as his candidature was
cleared by the home and external
affairs ministries. He was interviewed
on 16 June 2014 and it was the first
time that an Indian made it to top six
candidates)
4) Who took over as the new King of
Spain on 19 June 2014 ending King
Juan Carlos nearly 39-year reign?
Prince Felipe (Prince Felipe became
known as King Felipe VI as he took an
oath in parliament shortly after
receiving a ceremonial sash from his
father Juan Carlos representing the
receipt of the command of the
countrys armed forces. Prince Felipe
became the new Spanish monarch in
the wake of the abdication of his
father, King Juan Carlos on 2 June
2014)
5) Global e-commerce retailer Amazon
announced
its
entry
into
the
smartphone market with a new range
of smartphone. What is the name of
this smartphone which would be
launched in the U.S. on 25 July 2014?
Fire (Amazon
is
entering
the
smartphone market rather late with
Samsung and Apple dominating
worldwide smartphone sales with a
combined 46% share. Fire will cost
$200 for a base model with 32
gigabytes and $300 for 64 gigabytes)

6) Who took over as the Chief of

Southern Naval Command on 19 June
2014? Vice Admiral Surinder Pal
Singh Cheema (He took over as
Southern Naval Commands Flag
Officer Commanding in Chief at a
ceremonial parade held at Naval Air
Station INS Garuda at Kochi)
7) Defending champion Spain made a
shocking exit from FIFA World Cup

2014 after it lost to Chile 0-2 in a

league game at the iconic Maracana
Stadium on 18 June 2014. With this
loss
Spain
became
the
.defending champions to
crash out of the tournament at the first
stage Fourth (Spain joined Brazil
(1966), France (2002) and Italy (2010)
in the dubious club of defending
champions bowing out of the World
Cup in the first round)

June 21, 2014

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27 CURRENT AFFAIRS

31 December 2014 (Thus e-voting

for shareholders would become
mandatory for companies from 1
January 2015. An advantage of evoting is that under it one share has
one vote while under the earlier
system one person has one vote. In
the traditional voting at company
AGMs hands were shown or lifted in
support of a proposal and it was not
more than a mere formality)
1) The shareholders of Reliance
Industries Limited (RIL) got an
opportunity to cast their votes through
e-voting
system
at
companys
th
40 Annual General Meeting (AGM)
held on 18 June 2014 at Mumbai. RIL
shareholders cast their votes by
touching the touch-pads of tablet
computers that were brought by
volunteers individually to them.
However, the Ministry of Corporate
Affairs had deferred mandatory evoting for shareholders till which date?

2) The railway passenger fare was

increased by 14.2% in all classes
while freight charge was hiked by
6.5% on 20 June 2014 by the union
govt. This hike comes into effect from
which date 25 June 2014, i.e., post
midnight of 24 June (This is the
steepest hike since 1999 and the third
hike in last 15 years)

Page

28 CURRENT AFFAIRS

3) Indias capital market regulator

Securities and Exchange Board of
India (SEBI) on 19 June 2014
announced a slew of reforms that
included a proposal to hike public
holding
in
all
public
sector
undertakings (PSUs), new norms for
research analysts and ESOPs given
by listed firms. What is the minimum
public shareholding for PSUs as fixed
by the SEBI? 25% or Rs. 400 crore
whichever is lower (Currently, PSUs
have to maintain 10% of minimum
public shareholding, while private
companies are required to maintain
25%. Now, the PSUs will be given
three years to achieve minimum public
shareholding of 25%)
4) The Union Home Ministry on 19
June 2014 asked Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) to ensure prior permission
is sought before any donation is made
to NGO Greenpeace India by two
overseas
contributors.
Any
contribution from these two overseas
contributors to Greenpeace India
would have to be cleared by the Home
Ministry, the ministry has said, citing
Section 46 of the Foreign Contribution
(Regulation) Act, 2010. Which are
these two overseas contributors?
Greenpeace International and Climate
Works
Foundation (With
this,
Greenpeace International and Climate
Works Foundation have been clubbed
with Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch, which have been put on
a similar leash)

5) Hyderabads famous Salar Jung

Museum is celebrating how many
years of its existence during June
2014? 125 years (The Salarjung
Museum is one of the three National
Museums of India and houses the
largest
one-man
collections
of
antiques in the world. Nawab Mir
Yusuf Ali Khan Salar Jung III (1889
1949), former Prime Minister of the
seventh Nizam Hyderabad collected
the items housed in the museum from
all
over
the
world.
The
125th anniversary of Salar Jung III is
being
celebrated
as
museums
th
125 anniversary)
6) Who was unanimously elected as
the first Speaker of the Legislative
Assembly of Andhra Pradesh post
bifurcation of the state on 20 June
2014?
Kodela
Sivaprasada
Rao (Rao is a veteran TDP legislator
and has been elected to the Assembly
from Guntur district for the sixth time.
Pro-tem Speaker P Narayanaswamy
Naidu announced the election of K.
Sivaprasada Rao in the old Assembly
building, which has been allotted to AP
following the bifurcation)
7) Indias domestic air traffic between
January and May 2014 grew by
around 3% as compared to the same
period last year. Which company once
again led in domestic air service
segment during the month of May
2014? IndiGo (IndiGo continued to
dominate the scene in terms of market
share cornering 31.7% in May 2014,

followed by Jet Airways- JetLite

combine with 21%, Air India with
18.6%, SpiceJet 17.9% and GoAir
9.8%. All Indian carriers flew 60.22
lakh passengers in May compared to
57.10 lakh in April, while the JanuaryMay figure stood at 267.22 lakh as
against 260 lakh in the same period
last year recording a 2.78% growth,
latest official air traffic data showed)
8) Which senior IAS officer was
recently appointed Private Secretary to
Prime Minister Narendra Modi?
Rajeev Topno (Topno, a 1996 batch
IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, was
already working as Director in the
Prime Ministers Office (PMO). His
formal appointment was announced on
18 June 2014)

9) According to the latest survey report

released by a US travel website
whichairline.com,
which
airline
emerged as the cheapest in the
World? Firefly of Malaysia (Firefly
took the top spot in the cheapest
airline segment by offering a one-way
flight tickets, including 20 kg of
checked-in baggage fees, at an
average of 30 euro. Two India-based
airlines SpiceJet and Indigo were
also included among the top 10
cheapest airlines in the world.
SpiceJet, which was placed at the
second spot, was offering a one-way
ticket at an average of 52.24 euro,
while the cost of one-way ticket of
IndiGo, placed in the eighth position,
came
to
68.37
euro)

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29 CURRENT AFFAIRS

June 22-23, 2014

1) What unique record was created by
Chess World Champion Magnus
Carlsen after winning the World Blitz
Championship held at Dubai on 22
June 2014? He became the first
ever chess player to hold the World
Blitz, Rapid and Classic title at the
same title(Carlsen won the Rapid title
earlier this month and he took the
World Championship for 2013 from
Viswanathan Anand during November
2013. Indias Vishwanathan Anand
finished at a joint fifth place after
scoring 13.5 points. Nepomniachtchi
won the silver, while the bronze went

to Nakamura who started as the top

seed in the championship)
2) In an important development India
recently
decided
to
enhance
transparency
of
its
nuclear
infrastructure by ratifying an Additional
Protocol with the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA). The new
government has decided to go ahead
with the ratification process, clearing
the decks for large imports of nuclear
technology, boosting power generation
and other civilian purposes. The

Additional Protocol will cover only

those facilities which are monitored by
the IAEA, and will have no bearing on
the non-safeguarded facilities which
are used for building weapons. How
many nuclear facilities would be
covered under this agreement with the
IAEA? 20 (These 20 facilities would
include the Nuclear Fuel Complex in
Hyderabad, Tarapur atomic power
plant, Rajasthan Atomic Power
Station, both units at Kudankulam, and
the Kakrapar Atomic Power Station)
3) Who was announced as the winner
of the Jnanpith Award for 2013?
Kedarnath Singh, Hindi poet and
writer (Kedarnath Singh thus becomes
10th Hindi writer to be bestowed this
award, which is often reckoned as the
most prestigious literary award of
India. Kedarnath Singh is known for
his very rich collection of Hindi poetry
in collections such as Abhi Bilkul

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30 CURRENT AFFAIRS

Abhi, Zameen pak Rahi Hai, Yahan

se Dekho, Akaal mein Saaras,
Baagh and Tolstoy aur cycle. Mere
Samay ke Shabd, Kalpana aur
chhayavad and
Kabristan
mein
Panchayat are some of his prominent
prose collections. 2013s Jnanpith
Award is the 49th edition of this
prestigious award and Kedarnath
Singh would become 54th Jnanpith
Award winner overall)
4) Who is heading the 4-member
committee to conduct an introspection
of the Congress debacle in the recent
general elections by meeting key of

the party from different states and

UTs? A.K. Antony (A.K. Antony
Committee is an informal committee
which is involved in ascertaining the
reasons for very poor performance of
Congress party in the Lok Sabha
Elections of 2014 where the party
could win just 44 seats. Congress had
over 200 seats in the 15th Lok Sabha.
Other 3 members of this committee
are Mukul Wasnik, Avinash Pande
and R.C. Khuntia)
5) According to the recently released
report by the U.N. High Commissioner
for
Refugees
(UNHCR),
which
embarrassing milestone has been
achieved in global refugee count by
the
end
of
2013?
50
million (According to the UNHCR the
number of people who have had to
flee from violence and crises has
climbed above 50 million for the first
time since the Second World War. The
total number of refugees and people
displaced within their own countries
reached 51.2 million by the end of
2013, an increase of 6 million
compared to the previous year)
6) Who won the Austrian F1 Grand
Prix title for 2014 on 22 June 2014?
Nico
Rosberg
of
Mercedes
Team (Rosberg of Germany continued
his domination of this years F1
season with another emphatic win. His
teammate Lewis Hamilton (Great
Britain) claimed second place and third
place was taken by Finlands Valteri
Bottas for Williams team. This was the

first-ever podium finish for Bottas.

Force Indias Sergio Perez (Mexico)
finished at 6th position and his

teammate Nico Hulkenburg (Germany)

was at 9th position)

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31 CURRENT AFFAIRS

June 24, 2014

1) Which body, that during June 2014
submitted its report to the Prime
Minister, has recommended that the
Planning Commission should be
replaced by a reforms and solution
body as it exceeds the scope of its
authority by acting as a control
commission? Independent Evaluation
Office IEO (The IEO, which was set
up by the government in November
2010, from February this year began
independently
assessing
the
effectiveness
of
government
programmes and institutional policies.
It submitted the assessment report on
Planning Commission to Prime
Minister during June 2014. IEO in its
report stated that since the Planning
Commission has defied attempts to
reform it to bring it in line with the
needs of a modern economy and the
trend of empowering the States, it is
proposed
that
the
Planning
Commission be replaced)
2) Which national park of India has
been included in the prestigious
UNESCO World Heritage List by the
World Heritage Committee at its
38th Session held at Doha? The
Great Himalayan National Park

Conservation
Area

GHNPCA (GHNPCA was included

under criterion (x) of UNESCO
Guidelines. Criterion (x) is To contain
the most important and significant
natural habitats for conservation of
biological diversity, including those
containing threatened species of
outstanding universal value from the
point of view of science or
conservation. The Great Himalayan
National Park Conservation Area is in
Himachal Pradesh and major part of it
comprises of the Great Himalayan
National Park (GHNP) in the Kullu
District)
3) The first copy of the Encyclopedia
of Hinduism was released by the
President Pranab Mukherjee on 23
June 2014. The Encyclopedia, a
compendium of thousands of years of
history, science, art, architecture,
polity, religion, philosophy and culture,
took 25 years to complete. Which
organisation published this book?
India Heritage Research Foundation
IHRF (Swami Chidanand Saraswati of
the Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh is the
founder-chairman of IHRF. This
Encyclopedia is not limited to

Hinduism as a religion, but provides an

inclusive treatment of Indias spiritual
culture, including coverage of Sikhism,
Jainism and Buddhism traditions)
4) Which south-east Asian countrys
top court (The Federal Court) on 23
June 2014 upheld a government ban
forbidding non-Muslims from using
Allah
to
refer
to
God?

Malaysia (While upholding the govt.

ban the court rejected an appeal by
the Roman Catholic Church that
argued that the law failed to consider
the rights of minorities in the largely
Muslim nation. Although the Malaysian
constitution guarantees freedom of
religion, the 4-3 decision by the
Federal Court is expected to reinforce
complaints from Christians, Buddhist
and Hindu minorities that non-Muslims

do not always get fair treatment from

the
government
and
courts
accusations the government denies)
5) What is the name of the popular film
director and producer, who directed a
record-breaking 125 movies in nine
Indian languages, and who passed
away on 22 June 2014?
Ramanarayanan (The
prolific
filmmaker Ramanarayanan made a
name for himself making small-budget
films, predominantly on devotional
themes or stories in which animals and
animated characters played central
roles. He was basically a Tamil
producer and director but easily
switched to other languages like
Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi and
Bengali)

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32 CURRENT AFFAIRS

June 25, 2014

1) In a major achievement for Indias
national airline Air India, the airline on
24 June 2014 formally became the
part of which global airlines grouping
which would enable seamless travel to
over 1,300 destinations for its
passengers? Star Alliance (Ending a
seven-year-long wait, the Star Alliance
Chief Executive Board (CEB), at its
meeting
in
London
gave
an
endorsement vote to induct Air India
into the fold. With this, Air India
becomes the first Indian carrier to join
a global alliance. Star Alliance is one

of the largest alliance of global airlines

and it now has 27 member airlines in
its fold. Star Alliance members include
major airlines like US carrier United,
Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Air
China, Air Canada, Swiss, Austrian, All
Nippon Airways, Thai and Turkish
Airlines)
2) The prestigious UNESCO World
Heritage Site list crossed the 1,000
mark over the last few days as the
38th Session
of
World
Heritage

Committee at Doha (Qatar) concludes

on 25 June 2014. Which entry became
the 1,000th milestone entry into this list
that was started in 1978? The
Okavango Delta in Botswana (This
delta region has Africas largest
elephant population and is considered
a sanctuary for white and black
rhinoceros. Along with this delta
numerous other entries from the world
over were included in World Heritage
Site over the last few days)
3) Which
major
milestone
was
achieved by NASAs Mars-rover
Curiosity on 24 June 2014? It
completed one Mars year on this day
which is equivalent to 687 Earth
days (Curiosity arrived on Mars during
August 2012 to conduct probe on the
planet. The main goal for the probe
was to determine whether Mars once
offered
environmental
conditions
favourable for microbial life. One of
Curiositys first major findings was an
ancient riverbed)

Page

33 CURRENT AFFAIRS

4) What is the name of Tata Groups

member company which entered into
partnership with Europes Ruag
Aviation to build new generation

Dornier 228 aircrafts in India? Tata

Advanced Systems Ltd. TASL (TASL
opened the unit for Ruag Aviation at
Hyderabad on 23 June 2014. The
Ruag project is the fourth Aero
structures unit to be set up by TASL
since 2009 in Hyderabad and the
products of all the units are 100%
exported)
5) What is the name of the Delhi
University
Vice-Chancellor
who
tendered his resignation on 24 June
2014? Prof. Dinesh Singh (He
resigned from his post after the daylong confusion and chaos due to the
ongoing tussle between the University
Grants Commission (UGC) and Delhi
University (DU) over the four-year
undergraduate programme (FYUP).
The resignation came shortly after the
Supreme Court refused to intervene in
the row. The SC dismissed a plea
moved by the Delhi University
Teachers Association (DUTA) seeking
cancellation of the University Grants
Commission (UGC) order asking the
Delhi University (DU) to scrap its fouryear undergraduate programme. The
ambitious FYUP was the brain-child of
Prof. Dinesh Singh)

June 26, 2014

1) Which new district in West Bengal
was announced by the West Bengal
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on 25
June 2014, which becomes the
20th district
of
the
state?

Alipurduar (Alipurduar was created in

North Bengals Dooars region by
bifurcating the Jalpaiguri district.
Jalpaiguri was carved out as a district
way back in 1869 and seven years
later the Alipurduar sub-division was
set up)

Page

34 CURRENT AFFAIRS

2) Which state will become the first

one in India to implement 33%
reservation for women in the police
force as announced by the state govt.
on 24 June 2014? Gujarat (Gujarat
Chief Minister Anandiben Patel
announced 33% reservation for
women in the police force. There are
around 2,500 policewomen in the
State at present. If the government
manages to fill all 33% posts for
women
against
the
sanctioned
strength, the state would have around
19,800 women in the force)
3) Which Rajdhani Express derailed at
Golden Ganj station near Chapra
(Bihar) on 25 June 2014 killing at least
4 people? Delhi-Dibrugarh Rajdhani
Express (Twelve coaches of this
premium were derailed in the incident
at around 0200 hours on 25 June. Five
coaches B-1, B-2, B-3, B-4 and

pantry car overturned in the derailment

while seven other coaches B-5 to B10 and power car got derailed at the
station)
4) What is the name of the former
Solicitor General who withdrew his
candidature for appointment as
Supreme Court judge over lack of
support from the Union Govt.? Gopal
Subramaniam (The development has
put an end to the ongoing controversy
over Subramaniams nomination by a
Supreme Court collegium for the post
of a judge in the apex court. The name
of Subramanium, who served as the
Solicitor-General during the UPA
regime, was recommended by the
collegium for elevation to the apex
court bench along with some other
names. But the government rejected
his name and returned the file over his
name
while
accepting
the
recommendation related to others.
Though the government did not say
anything officially on the rejection,
there were reports that its decision
was based on a CBI report that had
questioned Subramaniums role in
arranging a meeting with the lawyer of
the 2G accused even when he was the
lawyer for CBI)
5) Which PSU general insurance
company
recently
introduced
insurance on wheels concept for

faster renewal of policies? National

Insurance Company Ltd. (Under the
scheme, a vehicle will be parked at
appropriate locations in a city. People
can renew their policies from there
instead of going to the company office.
Currently, the service has been
introduced in 15-odd cities of the
country)
6) The ancient city-states of Pyu,
which were included in UNESCOs
World Heritage List on 22 June 2014,
are the first entry of which Asian
country? Myanmar (The trio of cities
Halin, Beikthano and Sri Ksetra, are
located in Myanmars central Dry Zone
and feature the walled remains of sites
built by the now-extinct Pyu people
from the first to ninth centuries AD.
The Pyu sites together formed one of
15 historical and natural sites in
Myanmar on the tentative list for World
Heritage status)

7) The delisting process of which

pharma major came under market
regulator SEBIs lens for violation of its
regulations on fraudulent and unfair
trade practices and SEBI issued an
order on 24 June 2014?
AstraZeneca (SEBI said that it started
investigating the matter after coming
across reports that the offer-for-sale
(OFS) done by Astra Zenecas
promoters in May 2013 was a
deliberate attempt to subsequently get
the share delisted at ease. On further
examination, SEBI found that Astra
Zenecas two earlier attempts at
delisting (2004 and 2010) had been
unsuccessful. In its order SEBI
directed that the promoters of
AstraZeneca shall finally purchase
shares from public shareholders in the
delisting offer only after seeking
approval of the BSE and the NSE)

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35 CURRENT AFFAIRS

June 27, 2014

1) Goa has been formally declared as
permanent venue for the prestigious
annual International Film Festival of
India (IFFI) by the Union Government
recently. Goa, however, has been
hosting the IFFI for a decade now. So
what main advantage would be gained
with this declaration? Now there
would be no more requirement of the
annual
Memorandum
of
Understanding (MoU) about the mega

36 CURRENT AFFAIRS
Page

film festival to be signed between the

state and the central governments as
was the practice till now

major
executive
decision-making
authority to the Big Three of the game
India, Australia and England)

2) How much minimum export price

(MEP) on potatoes was slapped by the
Union Govt. on 26 June 2014 with a
view to ease prices in domestic market
and ensure more availability in
domestic
markets?
$450
per
tonne (The Directorate General of
Foreign Trade (DGFT) in a notification
announced that export of potatoes is
permitted subject to MEP of US$ 450
per tonne. This was done with in view
of continuous rise in price of potatoes
which was selling in the range of
Rs.25-30 per kg in major retail
markets. Earlier the MEP on onion of
US$ 300 per tonne was notified on 17
June 2014)

4) A Delhi court on 26 June 2014

summoned Congress president Sonia
Gandhi and Vice president Rahul
Gandhi and other Congress leaders as
accused
in National
Herald
newspaper case filed on charges of
criminal conspiracy and cheating. Who
had established National Herald,
which was shut down in 2008?
Jawaharlal Nehru(Nehru started this
newspaper in 1938. The summons
was issued on a private complaint filed
by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.
Other senior leaders summoned
include
Motilal
Vohra,
Oscar
Fernandes and Sam Pitroda. They
have been asked to be present in the
court on 7 August 2014)

3) Who on 26 June 2014 was formally

appointed the first Chairman of the
International Cricket Council (ICC) in
its Annual Conference held at
Melbourne, Australia? N. Srinivasan,
the President-in-exile of the BCCI
(Srinivasan was elected the Chairman
despite being barred by the Supreme
Court of India from carrying out his
duties as BCCI President due to
ongoing investigations into the matchfixing allegations relating to the 2013
edition of the IPL. It is worth noting
that the post of ICC Chairman is a
newly-created post and has been
created under ICCs controversial
revamp of the bodys administrative
structure. The revamp will also hand

5) Which Uruguay footballer was on 26

June 2014 banned by the FIFA for
nine international matches and was
barred from all football activities for
four months for biting an Italian
opponent in a FIFA World Cup match?
Luis Suarez (Luis Suarez is the star
striker for Uruguay. This is heaviest
punishment ever inflicted on a player
at a World Cup finals and was
imposed following Suarezs clash with
Italys Giorgio Chiellini on 24 June
2014 in a league match against Italy.
As part of the ban on football activities,
Suarez will not be allowed into a
stadium for four months. He was also

fined 100,000 Swiss francs or 112,000

dollars)
6) Which university recently launched
a 4-year undergraduate programme
even as a standoff persists between
the University Grants Commission
(UGC) and Delhi University (DU) over
the
Four
Year
Undergraduate
Programme (FYUP)? Bangalore
University(Bangalore
University

offered
a
4-year
re-structured
undergraduate
programme
with
multiple exit options from this year.
With the raging row in Delhi,
Bangalore University was quick to
clarify that its new programme with the
choice-based credit system (CBCS)
cannot be compared to FYUP of the
DU and it would not tamper with the
existing 3-year system but only add
value)

June 28-29, 2014

Page

37 CURRENT AFFAIRS

Myanmar counterpart Thien Sein took

part)

1) How many years of Panchsheel, the

five principles of peaceful coexistence
propounded by India and China, is
being celebrated this year? 60
years (Panchsheel was enunciated by
former Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru along with his then Chinese
counterpart Zhou Enlai in 1954. The
policy was later endorsed by Burma
(now Myanmar) too. A commemorative
meeting was held on 28 June 2014 on
the occasion of 60th anniversary of
Panchsheel in Beijing in which Indian
Vice-President Hamid Ansari and
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his

2) Which three former Soviet republics

on 27 June 2014 signed historic trade
deals with the European Union (EU)
that are expected to help them
overcome their post-Soviet legacy of
corruption and debt? Georgia,
Moldova and Ukraine (These deals
were signed at Brussels. For Ukraine
the deal was signed by President
Petro Poroshenko. The deal was
supposed to be signed in November
by Poroshenkos predecessor, Viktor
Yanukovich, who balked at the last
minute under the pressure of threats
by Russia. With this deal the three join
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in
pursuing stronger ties with Europe at
the expense of Russia, with Moscow
voicing its displeasure at the progress
of the discussions)

Page

38 CURRENT AFFAIRS

3) Which village of East Godavari

district in Andhra Pradesh was on 27
June 2014 the witness of a gas
pipeline blast in the gas trunk line of
Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL)
in which 16 people died?
Nagaram (Nagaram
village
in
Amalapuram Mandal of East Godavari
district in Andhra Pradesh was witness
to a huge blast and fire after the fire
broke out in the 18-inch trunk pipeline
owned by GAIL)
4) India has developed the worlds
second largest gamma ray telescope
that will help scientists gain new
knowledge on the origin of the
universe and origin of cosmic rays that
bombard the space. Where this huge
telescope will be installed? In
Ladakhs Hanle region (State-owned
Electronics Corporation of India Ltd.
(ECIL) in Hyderabad designed the
giant 45 m high and 180 tonne
telescope. The transportation of this
telescope from Hyderabad to Ladakh
started on 28 June 2014 and it is
expected that the telescope will be
operational in Ladakh by early 2016.
This will be the fourth gamma ray
telescope in the world. The largest
such telescope built by a consortium of
European countries with a diameter of
28 m is currently in operation in
Namibia. Indias telescope is the
second largest with a diameter of 21
m. But because it is being located in
the high altitude Ladakh region, it will
have the same capabilities of the one
in Namibia)

5) Jean-Claude Juncker, who was

named as the new President of the
European Commission (EC) on 27
June 2014, is the former Prime
Minister
of
which
country?

Luxembourg (But Junckers selection

for the post dealt a bitter blow to
opponent and British Prime Minister
David Cameron and it threatened to
increase the chances of Britain leaving
the bloc. Juncker, a veteran EU
insider, was backed by all EU member
states, except Britain and Hungary)
6) Global e-commerce giant Amazon
during May 2014 tied up with N.R.
Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of IT
services firm Infosys by forming an ecommerce joint venture with his
private investment firm. What is the
name of this investment firm of
Narayana
Murthy?
Catamaran
Ventures (Murthys private investment
firm Catamaran Ventures, a Rs. 600crore fund launched in 2010, has
formed a joint venture with Amazons
Asia unit to create a new entity. This
new entity will help small and medium
businesses in India. Catamaran
Ventures is based in Bangalore)
7) For the first time two countries from
Africa qualified for last-16 stage in
FIFA World Cup by making their
places in the ongoing 2014 FIFA
World Cup. Which team are these?
Algeria and Nigeria(Algeria qualified
for last-16 stage for the first time in this
World Cup)

8) The unit 42 yoctonewtons, which

came to news recently, represents
what? It is the smallest force ever
measured so far(According to the
journal Science the scientists at the
Berkeley Lab and University of
California (UC) Berkeley measured the

smallest force that can be applied to

an object. This force was measured
using a combination of lasers and a
unique optical trapping system that
provides a cloud of ultra-cold atoms.
42 yoctonewtons stands for oneseptillionth or 10 of a Newton)

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39 CURRENT AFFAIRS

June 30, 2014

1) Jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq,

led by the Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria (ISIS), on 29 June 2014
announced the formation of a virtual
new country in Iraq with the
establishment of a Caliphate. Who
was declared as the Caliph, the
leader of the Muslims all over the
World?
Abu
Bakr
alBaghdadi (Baghdadi is the chief of
ISIS. The system of Caliphate ended
nearly 100 years ago with the fall of
the Ottomans. Ever since the Prophet
Mohammeds death, a caliph was
designated as the prince or Emir of
the believers. This system was
abolished when the Ottoman Empire
collapsed in 1924)

2) Which warship of the Indian Navy

was deployed in the Persian Gulf on
28 June 2014 in an effort to ensure
safety of Indians stranded in Iraq due
to the ongoing civil war? INS
Mysore (Indian Navy has another
warship INS Tarkash deployed in the
Gulf of Aden and if required, both
ships can be pressed into evacuation
operations. The warship has been
deployed in the Persian Gulf as it has
been asked to be on standby by the
government to evacuate Indian being
stranded in Iraq. The Indian Air Force
also has its aircraft on standby
and can deploy its C17 and C-130J
Super Hercules aircraft at short notice
for any such evacuation operation)
3) The performance ratings of banks
operating in India would be put on the
public domain from next year. Which
entity is rating bank services and
would share this information in public
domain? Banking Codes Standards
Board of India BCSBI (BCSBI was
set up as an independent and
autonomous body in 2007 by the

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ensure

that the common consumer of financial
services from the banking industry
gets what he/she has been promised.
BCSBI is rating banks on customer
services on five parameters
information
dissemination,
transparency,
customer-centricity,
grievance redressal system and
customer feedback. Of the 48 banks
rated for customer service, only five
received high ratings; 25 were rated
above average; 17 average; and one
below average. The ratings have been
shared with the banks. The ratings
were given based on a survey
conducted by BCSBI across 69 cities,
involving 3,000 branches and 6,000
customers)

5) Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal

on 29 June 2014 won which super
series title to wrap up her second title
of the year? Star Australian Super
Series (She won the $750,000 Star
Australian Super Series by defeating
Spains Carolina Marin by 21-18, 2111 in the finals. Saina had won the
India Open Super Series earlier this
year)

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40 CURRENT AFFAIRS

4) Which Indian player on 29 June

2014 created history by becoming the

first player in the world to win world

titles in the long and shorter formats of
both billiards and snooker? Pankaj
Advani (Pankaj Advani achieved this
rare feat by winning the IBSF World 6Red snooker Championship, in Sharm
el-Sheikh (Eygpt), when he defeated
Kacper Flilpiak of Poland in the final.
This win takes Pankaj to highest tally
of world titles by any Indian cueist in
the Open (Mens) category)

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