2015

Career Anna GK 2015 Program

- April Fact Sheet

Career Anna

Indian Government and Politics

1.

Indian Government launched Operation Raahat to evacuate 4000 Indian nationals from
Yemen amid rising violence in the country. India got permission to dock its offshore
patrol vessel INS Sumitra at the Aden harbor of Yemen to evacuate thousands of Indians.

2.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched a new subsidised 'Aahar' scheme on
the occasion of the State's Foundation Day.

3.

Union Government launched Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric
vehicles (FAME) India Scheme as a part of the National Mission for Electric Mobility to
boost eco-friendly vehicles sales in the country.

4.

Gulshan Rai, the Director General of Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CertIn), has been appointed as India's first Cyber Security chief.

5.

Andhra Pradesh Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister N Chandrababu has approved the
name of the Capital city of Andhra Pradesh as Amaravathi' which will be built at Tullur in
Vijayawada-Guntur region of the state with the help of Singapore.

6.

West Bengal and Bihar Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi took additional charge of Mizoram
and he was sworn in as 16th Governor of Mizoram.

7.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the National Air Quality Index to track air quality
index across 10 cities in the country. The index will inform the public about air quality in a
simple and an easily understandable form and would enhance public awareness and
involvement in air quality improvement.

8.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Rs 20,000 cr MUDRA (Micro Units Development
Refinance Agency) Bank for small entrepreneurs and business houses in the country.
The MUDRA Bank will provide credit of up to Rs 10 lakh to small entrepreneurs

9.

Mayilsamy Annadurai has been appointed as Director of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC). He
succeeded Dr SK Shivakumar who superannuated on 31 st March this year.

10.

President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed the senior-most Election Commissioner, Dr

Nasim Zaidi, as the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). He will succeed incumbent
Harishankar Brahma who will retire on April 18th and assume charge from 19th April.

11.

India will chair the ninth meeting of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
Council which will be held in Abu Dhabi in June this year.

12.

The Indian government has temporarily suspended the registration of Greenpeace India
under the foreign contributions law for under-reporting foreign funding and conducting
transaction of such funds without informing the authorities as required by the law.

13.

Arun Kumar Jha has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Khadi and Village
Industries Commission (KVIC).

14.

Union Government has constituted a task force on interlinking of rivers in the country
which will be headed by former Secretary of Ministry of Water Resources B N
Navalawala.

15.

Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has renamed Tourist Visa on Arrival-Electronic
Travel Authorization scheme (TVoA-ETA) to e-Tourist Visa from 15thApril 2015.

16.

CPM leader Sitaram Yechury was elected as the next general secretary of Communist
Party of India (Marxist).

17.

The government of India retained the rate of interest for General Provident Fund (GPF) at
8.7% for the current fiscal year, as per the latest notification issued by the Finance
Ministry.

18.

State Government of Kerala launched a project named as Subodham' to help people in

the state to stop addiction to liquor.

19.

Former Odisha Chief Minister and former Assam Governor Janaki Ballabh Patnaik passed
away in Tirupati.

20.

The central government has decided to discontinue two awards named after former
Prime Ministers of India Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Those awards were conferred
until last year to people based on outstanding work for promoting the progressive use of
Hindi language.

21.

Indian Railways has launched an online monitoring mechanism named as 'E - Samiksha"
which aims to monitor implementation of various ongoing projects of Indian Railways on
real-time basis including Rail Budget proposals.

22.

Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved to reduce of age
of juveniles from 18 to 16 years for heinous crimes including murder and rape. The
cabinet also approved to introduce Amendment to the Juvenile Justice (Care and
Protection of Children) Bill, 2014.

23.

Rajya Sabha passed the Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014 after it was passed
by the Lok Sabha on 18 December 2014. The Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill,
2014 which was introduced by the Union Minister of Finance, Arun Jaitley, seeks to
amend the Regional Rural Banks (RRB) Act, 1976.

24.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has declared Nadia district in West Bengal
as the first Open Defecation Free (ODF) district in the country.

Sports
25.

Mustafa Kamal has resigned as the President of the International Cricket Council (ICC)
after he was denied to hand over the World Cup trophy to Winning team Australia as per
standard practice. Instead the trophy was handed over to the winning team by ICC
Chairman N. Srinivasan.

26.

New Zealand left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori has announced his retirement from ODI
format recently after completing 18 years long career. New Zealand pace bowler Kyle
Mills also announced his retirement from all format of cricket

27.

Balbir Singh Senior was awarded with the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement
Award by Hockey Indian. The award carries a trophy and cash prize of 30 lakh rupees. He
was a member of three Olympic gold medal winning Indian team which are London
Olympics (1948), Helsinki Olympics (1952) and Melbourne Olympics (1956).

28.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has been awarded Sir Richard Hadlee medal,
highest cricketing honour of New Zealand, for his inspirational leadership and leading his
country to its first Cricket World Cup final match ever.

29.

India has been ranked at 119th position in the list of 130 countries in the FM Global
Resilience Index 2015 published on 2nd April. India secured 112th rank in last year.

30.

A minor planet, which was discovered back in 1988, was named after Indian Chess
grandmaster, Viswanathan Anand.

31.

Rajeev Shukla has been re-appointed chairman of the IPL Governing Council. Earlier he
was was the IPL chairman till 2013 when he resigned after the IPL 'spot-fixing' scandal.

32.

Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal bowed out of the Malaysia Open badminton championship
after her close defeat in the semifinal match against top-seeded China's Li Xuerui.

33.

World number one Novak Djokovic won the Miami Open Men's Singles trophy. He
defeated Andy Murray for the seventh straight time by 7-6, 4-6, 6-0 in the final match.
World number one Serena Williams won the Miami Open Women's Singles trophy

34.

Indian tennis player Sania Mirza and her Swiss team-mate Martina Hingis won the Miami
Open Tennis women's doubles title

35.

Indian Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika won the bronze medal along with Swedish
Grandmaster Pia Cramling as she made it to the semi-finals of World Women's chess
championship.

36.

Mercedes Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton won Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai
International Circuit in China.

37.

Indian tennis player Sania Mirza created history by becoming the first Indian female
tennis player to achieve the world number one rank in women's doubles ranking after
her Women's doubles title win at the WTA Family Circle Cup with her partner Martina
Hingis.

38.

Famous Indian shooter Jitu Rai won a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol event at the
International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Changwon, South Korea.

39.

Commonwealth Games gold medal medalist Indian shooter Apurvi Chandela qualified
for next year's Olympic Games after winning the 10m air rifle bronze in the ongoing ISSF
World Cup (Rifle/Pistol)

40.

India's Yuki Bhambri won the 15,000 US Dollar ITF Futures tournament title after
defeating Dzmitry Zhyrmont by 6-2 6-4 in the final match held at at Karshi, Uzbekistan

41.

Indian hockey team defeated Korea by 4-1 to finish at third position in the 24th Sultan
Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament held at Ipoh, Malaysia. Earlier, both the teams
finished at 2-2 at regulation time.

42.

New Zealand won the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup men's hockey tournament 2015 after
defeating World Champions Australia in the finals at the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadium in
Ipoh, Malaysia.

43.

Famous Tennis player Novak Djokovic has been named the Laureus Sportsman of the
Year at the Laureus Sports Awards on 15th April while Gen-ze-be Dibaba has been named
as the Laureus Sportswoman of the year. Germany's World Cup-winning team received
the best team award.

44.

India has retained its second place in the latest ICC ODI ranking published by ICC on
15th April. Australia secured No 1 rank

45.

Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar was inducted into the prestigious Laureus Sports
Academy as one of the five new members in Shanghai on 15 thApril. Kapil Dev and Rahul
Dravid are the other Indian cricketers to have received this recognition.

46.

Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has regained the number one position in international
badminton rankings

47.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has suspended the Paralympic Committee
of India (PCI) for indefinite period after PCI had provided shoddy treatment to athletes
during the National Para-Athletics Championships held in Ghaziabad in March this year.

48.

Ashish Jakhar set a national youth record in boys' hammer throw event and won gold
medal in the 12th National Youth Athletics Championships held in Bambolim, Goa.

49.

Formula One world champion and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain
Grand Prix.

50.

Cricket South Africa has announced to launch Africa T20 Cup to promote the cricket and
to nurture young talent in Africa continent. The tournament will feature Zimbabwe,
Kenya, Namibia, hosts South Africa and 12 CSA affiliates and will be held from
4th September to 4th October 2015.

51.

India's Cricket governing body, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed
former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar as chief adviser of Anti-Corruption &
Security Unit (ACSU) of BCCI.

52.

World record holder Paula Radcliffe has been chosen for the inaugural John Disley
London Marathon Lifetime Achievement Award after she completes the 2015 London
Marathon.

53.

India won the 22nd President's Cup Boxing Tournament being held at Palembang,
Indonesia for the first time.

54.

All India Football Federation President Praful Patel was elected unopposed as Asian
Football Confederation's vice president of the SAFF region at the AFC Congress held in
Bahrain.

55.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has nominated Indian batsman Rohit Sharma
for this year Arjuna Award.

56.

Railways defeated Uttar Pradesh Hockey team by 5-3 in the final match to win the Senior
Men's National Hockey championship held recently.

Business and Economy

57.

India's E-commerce marketplace Snapdeal has acquired a majority stake in digital

financial distribution platform RupeePower.

58.

The Reserve Bank of India has penalized 16 central cooperative banks with a fine of Rs 5
lakh each for non-adherence of the Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering
guidelines.

59.

India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves jumped by USD 1.386 billion to all time high
USD 341.378 billion in the week ended 27thMarch, as per weekly report published by the
RBI. The jump was mainly due to increase in foreign currency assets which was increased
by USD 1.351 billion to USD 316.238 billion in the same week.

60.

India's e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal acquired India's fastest growing mobile

transaction platform FreeCharge for an undisclosed amount.

61.

World Health Day (WHD) 2015 was observed on 7th April across the world. The theme
for year 2015 was"From farm to plate, make food safe."

62.

FedEx Corp announced to acquire buy Dutch package delivery firm TNT Express for
approximately 4.4 billion euros (USD 4.8 billion).

63.

Former Satyam Chairman B Ramalinga Raju and nine others have been convicted guilty
for their involvement in the worst ever corporate fraud of Indian history and given a
seven-year jail term by the special court.The 10 accused who have been convicted are - B
ramalinga Raju, B Rama Raju, Srinivas Vadlamani, Talluri Srinivas, Gopalakrishna,
Suryanarayana Raju, Ramakrishna, Venkatapathi Raju, Srisailam, and Vsd Gupta.

64.

Chairman & Managing Director of TIL Limited, Sumit Mazumder has been elected as the
President of CII for the year 2015-16.

65.

Global rating agency Moody's has raised India's rating outlook from stable to positive
with rating affirmed as Baa3' which is the lowest investment rating. Another global
credit rating agency Fitch has affirmed India's sovereign rating at BBB- and has kept the
outlook unchanged at stable'. 'Baa3' and BBB-are similar rating and indicates last
investment grade.

66.

The Reserve Bank notified the decision to raise foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in the
insurance sector to 49% from existing cap of 26%.

67.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have also
been named in the list of 100 most influential people in the world. Narendra Modi
secured 0.6% votes while Kejriwal got 0.5% votes. Russian President Vladimir Putin has
been ranked at No1 in the list of this years' Time 100 readers' list of most influential
people in the world.

68.

Following popular outrage against net neutrality violations, Indian e-commerce company
Flipkart pulled out of the controversial Airtel Zero preferential access platform.

69.

CRISIL has forecasted India's GDP growth rate at 7.9% cent in current fiscal year. This
growth projection is lower compared to 8% to 8.5% GDP growth projected by Indian
government.

70.

Canada and India have signed a series of agreements including Uranium delivery from
Canada and easy visas for Canadian travelers by Indian government. Under an agreement
signed between Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Harper, Cameco
Corporation will supply 3,000 metric tonnes of uranium over five years to India for USD
254 million. These supplies will be under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
safeguards.

71.

India has successfully test-fired nuclear-capable ballistic missile Agni-III from a mobile
launcher at Integrated Test Range in Wheeler Island off Odisha coast

72.

Online restaurant guide Zomato acquired MaplePOS, a cloud-based point of sale product
for restaurants developed by a group of techies from Delhi.

73.

The Reserve Bank of India has allowed banks to offer differential interest rates based on
whether the term deposits are with or without-premature-withdrawal-facility, subject to
conditions.

74.

United Nation (UN) peace envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar has resigned after he lost
support from Gulf countries for his mission.

75.

Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella was awarded with the White House Champions of Change
for bringing about change within his company to support working families by US
President Barack Obama.

76.

India is ranked below Bhutan and Sri Lanka in terms of broadband penetration, as per
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

77.

Reliance Industries regained its status as the most profitable Indian company after
posting net profit Rs 6,381 crore in the fourth quarter ending March this year.

78.

China's economic growth slowed to 7% in the first quarter of 2015 compared to same
quarter last year. China's central bank cut its bank reserve requirement ratio by one
percentage point to boost growth.

79.

Infosys Chief Executive Officer, Vishal Sikka, has been appointed as Advisory Professor by
the East China Normal University (ECNU), one of the prestigious universities in China.

80.

Global credit rating agency Moody's has projected India's GDP growth at 7.5% for the
current year 2015.

81.

The Reserve Bank has revised priority sector lending norms to ensure a phased increase
in loans to small farmers and to make smaller foreign banks to meet the 40% target over
the next five years.

82.

India's largest private bank, ICICI Bank has launched an application for iWatch on
expectations that those wearable payment solutions would pick-up soon after another
bank HDFC Bank which announced the same.

83.

Europe's largest IT services company, Capgemini has announced to acquire mid-tier IT

Services company iGATE for nearly USD 4 billion. Capgemini will pay USD 48 per share of
iGATE. iGATE is US-listed IT services company headquartered in New Jersey.

84.

The World Bank has projected India's GDP growth rate at 7.5% for the current fiscal year
2015-16. As per the World Bank India Development update report, India's GDP growth
rate expected to increase to 7.5% cent in 2015-16 and to 7.9% in 2016-17 and 8% in
2017-18.

85.

Indian e-commerce Company and Online marketplace Flipkart has acquired Delhi-based
mobile engagement and marketing automation company Appiterate. Appiterate is a fullfledged mobile marketing automation platform which was launched as an A/B testing
product for native mobile apps.

Entertainment
86.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan was 'honoured' with an honorary doctorate from
the Egyptian Academy of Arts for his contribution to cinema. With this, the Academy of
Arts has given a doctorate to an international actor.

87.

Hindi poet Gopaldas Neeraj and famous Hindi litterateur Uday Pratap Singh have been
awarded with the Sahitya Shiromani Samman by the Uttar Pradesh government.

88.

Jaya Prada was aawrded with Kalashree Award by the Dada Saheb Phalke Film
Foundation for her contribution to the field of arts and entertainment.

89.

Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor was awarded with the prestigious Master Deenanath
Mangeshkar Award 2015. He was presented the award by famous historian and writer
Babasaheb Purandare.

90.

Famous Marathi film and stage actress, Shanta alias Bimba Modak, passed away in Pune.
She was 97. She made her debut in the film "Chulaani Mul" in 1946 which was directed
by noted playwright and writer Vishram Bedekar.

International News and Global Awards

91.

Dr Subadhra Devi Rai, an Indian-origin nurse in Singapore, was chosen for the 2015
International Achievement Award by the Florence Nightingale International Foundation
(FNIF) of the International Council of Nurses for her work in the healthcare sector of
women and refugees.

92.

US economy added 126,000 jobs in March which is lower compared to last 12 month
average. The US unemployment rate held unchanged at 5.5% in March compared to
previous month, as per the US Department of Labor.

93.

President of Peru Ollanta Humala appointed Pedro Cateriano as the new Prime Minister
of Peru. He replaced former Prime Minister Ana Jara, who was removed from the by
Congress amid allegations of corruption.

94.

An Indian-American assistant professor, Rajani Ganesh-Pillai was awarded with the

Peltier Award for her innovative teaching methods. The Peltier Award was established by
Joseph and Norma Peltier to honor innovation in teaching.

95.

Pratap Singh, a 15 years old Indian-origin student, won the Institute of Physics Prize (IOP)
in the UK for his project on special relativity.

96.

South Korea capital city, Seoul was awarded the title of Global Earth hour Capital 2015
after it won the Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC) of World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Total
163 cities from 16 countries participated in the challenge.

97.

Asteroid 316201 was named as 316201 Malala' after the youngest Nobel laureate
Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai.

98.

German Nobel laureate Guenter Grass passed away in Berlin. He was 87. Grass authored
the book "The Tin Drum," which was published in 1959 for which he was honored with
the Nobel Prize for literature in 1999.

99.

Two Indians, Zeena Johar, SughaVazhvu Healthcare Founder and journalist and author
Rahul Pandita, were chosen along with 16 people as 2015 World Fellows by Yale
University which is the signature global leadership development initiative by the US
University

100. China and Pakistan have signed a MoU for energy and infrastructure related projects to
be built in Pakistan with USD 46 billion investment.
101. A Japanese magnetic levitation train, also known as Maglev' has broken its own world
speed record after touching maximum speed of 603 Km/hr and keeping 600+ km/h speed
for nearly 10 seconds.
102. An Egyptian criminal court sentenced ousted President Mohammed Morsi to 20 years in
prison over his alleged order to fire on the protesters in 2012 and killing some of them.
103. Prime Minister Narendra Modi conferred the prestigious Jnanpith award on eminent
Marathi litterateur Bhalchandra Nemade. Mr Nemade is the 50th recipient of the
prestigious award.
104. Indian-American Surgeon Vivek Murthy was sworn-in as the US Surgeon General by Vice
President Joe Biden at a ceremony. With this, he has become the youngest-ever incharge of the country's public health at the age of 37 only.

105. Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) Ltd was awarded with the Asian Banker Achievement
Award 2015 for Technology Implementation in the category of Best Outsourcing Project
(New Bank).
106. Gopinath Pillai, an Indian-origin diplomat was awarded with the Outstanding Service
Award for his services in Singapore by the National University of Singapore (NUS).
107. Sangeeta Bhatia, an Indian origin scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), was awarded with the prestigious 2015 Heinz Award in the Technology, the
Economy, and Employment category.
108. India-born Raja Rajeswari was sworn-in as a criminal court judge in New York by Mayor
Bill de Blasio. With this, she became the first India-born woman to be appointed a judge
in New York City.

Miscellaneous
109. Indian Navy's first Scorpene submarine under Project 75 was undocked at the Mazagon
Dock Limited (MDL) in the presence of the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
110. Golden Peacock National Quality Award for the year 2015 conferred on Delhi
International Airport Limited (DIAL).
111.

According to the data published by the RBI, Central Bank of India has topped the list of
public sector banks with maximum bad loans including restructured assets as a
percentage of total advances. As per the list, Central Bank of India has 21.5% loans as
either bad assets or has been termed as non-performing assets (NPAs).

112. M Annadurai has been appointed as the new director of ISRO Satellite Centre.
113. Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, EPFO has suspended the Rs 1,000 minimum
monthly pension scheme from April 2015.
114. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has named Thane in Maharashtra as the National Earth Hour
Capital for year 2015 after it emerged as winner
115. World Heritage Day was observed across the world on 18th April to create awareness
among the people to conserve and protect the valuable assets and cultural heritage
across the world.
116. Vankadarath Saritha, a 30-year-old driver, became the first woman bus driver to be
inducted in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC)
117. Nasim Zaidi has taken over as the Chief Election Commissioner of India on 19 th April. He
will have tenure till July 2017.

118. The Indian Navy launched the first of stealth destroyers named as 'Visakhapatnam' under
the P15-B project.
119. World Earth day was observed across the world (22nd April) to raise awareness regarding
environment and build support for environmental protection around the world.
120. 23rd April is observed as World Book Day across the world to raise importance of reading
books among all kind of people. World Book Day is an occasion to celebrate the
importance of books in our life.
121. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has approved Uttarakhand's Rajaji
National Park as India's 48th Tiger Reserve.
122. National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) will be headed by Chief Justice of
India H.L. Dattu. The Commission, will be constituted by the center, is a body responsible
for the appointment and transfer of judges to the higher judiciary in India.
123. The Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the India Group, Aroon Purie was named as the
'Editor of the Year' by the Jury for the International Advertising Association (IAA)
124. A powerful earthquake measuring 7.9 on Richter scale struck Nepal and some Indian
states in North and North-east Indian. Nearly 900 people were killed and over 1000
people were injured in the natural calamity.
125. World Malaria Day is observed (25th April across the world) in order to raise awareness
about the disease. The theme from 2013 to 2015 is'Invest in the future, Defeat malaria'to
call attention to efforts to finish the job 2015.
126. India has been ranked at 117th position in the list of 158 countries in terms of happiness
index as per the World Happiness index released by the Sustainable Development
Solutions Network on 24th April
127. National Panchayati Raj Day was observed (24th April) across the country after the
central government has decided to celebrate 24th April as National Panchayati Raj Day.
128.

India has launched a relief and rescue Operation named Maitri' in earthquake hit Nepal
for relief and rescue operation. The operation will consist of more than two dozen
military aircraft and choppers along with bus services through road route.

129. Loretta Lynch has sworn-in as United States' first African-American woman Attorney
General. She is 83rd Attorney General of country and she succeeded Eric Holder who left
the position recently after serving as Attorney General for six years.